Maillard induced glycation of 8-casein for enhanced stability of the self-assembly micelles against acidic and calcium environment

Bovine 8-casein (8-CN) has attracted increasingly interest as biocompatible nanocarrier for hydrophobic flavo-noid due to its self-assembly ability to form micelles. This paper reported Maillard induced glycation reaction of 8-CN using dextran in order to improve stability of naringenin-loaded 8-CN micelles under acidic and high calcium environments. Our results showed that solubility of 8-CN-graft-dextran was remarkable increased at acidic pH and the conjugation with 20 kDa dextran had the highest level of graft degree. Glycation restrained 8-CN from aggregating around pH 5.0 where was close to the isoelectric point, forming spherical micelles with irregular and rough surfaces, which were significantly larger than the micelles at pH 7.0. 8-CN-graft-dextran also overcame destabilization of the micelles induced by excess calcium and had no impact on the chelating ability of calcium. These findings appeared to be promising for future applications of modified 8-CN-graft-dextran based on Maillard reaction as fairly stable nanocarrier under extreme condition.

Automated summary

This study reported the improvement of stability of 8-CN micelles by Maillard-induced glycation reaction using dextran as a modification agent. The results showed that glycation enhanced the solubility of 8-CN-graft-dextran at acidic pH and formed stable micelles with irregular surfaces. This finding has potential for future applications of modified 8-CN-graft-dextran as a stable nanocarrier.